Horse and trainer reunite

As an 18-year-old growing up in the municipal towns in the Netherlands, Wianda Hosdra always hoped she would see her best friend – an eight-year-old Frisian horse named Klaske – again.

Hosdra gets reacquainted with Klaske, a 19-year-old Frisian.

Eleven years later, her moment of reconciliation arrived.

Now 29, Hosdra traveled from her lifelong hometown of Burgum to Hy Sierra Farm in Louisa to reunite with the horse she raised from its birth.

“I can’t describe the experience,” Hosdra said of seeing Klaske, who is now 19. “I was really excited to see her.”

“I guess when you’re a horse person, you have a bond with a certain horse in your heart,” said Shenia Wong, who bought Klaske in 2005 and operates Hy Sierra Farm with her husband, Tony.

Hosdra was 10-years-old when she first started working with Klaske. When the horse’s mother died shortly after Klaske’s birth, the horse’s owner promised Hosdra that if she came by the farm and helped raise the horse, he would allow her to ride the animal when Klaske was old enough.

From taking the young filly for walks to feeding it concoctions of milk and syrup to build up her strength, Hosdra helped Klaske mature into a strong, fully-grown adult mare and was indeed able to ride her for dressage.

Unfortunately for Hosdra, after the original owner of the horse died, Klaske was sold to another farm and eventually transported to the United States.

Through years of vast searches using various resources over the internet and with the help of the Frisian Horse Association of North America, Hosdra was eventually able to get the contact information to reach Wong.

“They are very strict in Holland when they give information about where people live, but in America they give you everything,” Hosdra said with a smile.

Disregarding the time zone differences, Hosdra immediately called Wong in March, which set up an interesting middle-of-the-night wakeup call for the farm owner.

“I thought, “Who in the world is this?’” Wong said.

It didn’t take long, though, for the two to connect through their common bond as horse lovers.

“I told [Hosdra] that she could come see Klaske and stay with me,” Wong said.

Hosdra, who had never been to America, was admittedly hesitant at first to make the eight-hour, 4,000-mile trek.

To read the entire story, see the Oct. 24 edition of The Central Virginian.